Richard Stallman, billed as "pivotal" to the development of the first working Linux operating system (OS), was in Taiwan yesterday to open a two-day Linux conference. His visit highlights a growing trend in Taiwan toward using Linux as an alternative to Microsoft Windows.
According to Chang Ruey-chuan (張瑞川), a professor at the National Chiao Tung University (交通大學), Stallman contributed to the first working version of Linux. The basic design of the OS was developed by Linus Torvalds, now a software developer at Transmeta.
After Torvalds developed the foundation for Linux in 1991, he posted it on the Internet, where approximately 80 people contributed to the first working version, Linux 1.0, Chang said. Stallman's software provided one of several key pieces to the working version of Linux, and Stallman's organization, GNU, obtained the public patent to protect the software, which is distributed free via the Internet.
At the conference, Stallman related his experience of having his work stolen through the legal wranglings of a contract, and how that pushed him to develop a free, open-source operating system.
"I was the victim," he said, "and I wanted to do something about it."
So he developed the organization GNU, and devoted part of his time to building Linux into a stronger operating system. He explained that having an open source code is the strength of Linux. Open source makes the software coding suitable for personal customizing. Anyone can download the basic Linux program off the Net, although a software developer may be necessary to change the coding to have the OS perform custom-made functions.
According to Stallman, developers have brought Linux up to a level where it is more stable and virus resilient than Windows. It will also work on a variety of electronic devices, including servers and Internet appliances.
In recent weeks, two of the nation's center's of higher learning have pushed Linux into the spotlight. The two-day conference that sponsored Stallman's Taiwan visit is being hosted in part by Taiwan's number one research institute, Academia Sinica (
Further, this conference comes on the heels of another Linux event held last week, sponsored by Taiwan's top university, National Taiwan University (台大) and the government's Institute for Information Industry (III,
The Ministry of Education earlier this year voiced its approval of the Linux operating system by choosing to use it in offices and schools throughout Taiwan after XLinux International (
For a copy of the latest free version of Linux, go to either: www.Fsf.org or www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html`
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